OilVoice - EDF Energies Nouvelles Announces Steep Rise in Interim Results

EDF Energies Nouvelles Announces Steep Rise in Interim Results

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Financial performance:
• EBITDA: up 64.6% to €140.2 million
• Net income, Group share: up 53.7% to €41.8 million

Objectives confirmed:
• 2009 EBITDA: between €280 and €300 million
• Installed capacity at year-end 2012: 4,000 MW net including
500 MWp in solar capacity

At its meeting on 28 July 2009 chaired by Pâris Mouratoglou, the Board of Directors of EDF Energies Nouvelles approved the consolidated financial statements for the first half of the 2009 financial year.

Commenting on this performance, Pâris Mouratoglou, Chairman of the Board of Directors, stated:
“The beginning of 2009 marked a strong acceleration in EDF EN’s photovoltaic segment. Close to 100 MWp in projects were launched during
the first half, including several large-capacity solar farms in France, Spain and Canada. We are already ahead of our 2009 objectives in this segment.

As we announced a year ago, the solar segment has become the second engine of EDF EN’s growth alongside wind energy, the potential of which remains intact.

During the first half of the year, EDF EN was able to seize the opportunities arising from current economic conditions. Thanks to our strong position in the market, our financial discipline and our reactivity, we have been able to enter into a high-quality strategic partnership with Danish developer Greentech and to seize excellent opportunities to purchase turbines.

Lastly, we recently signed an attractive strategic partnership agreement with First Solar, the world leader in thin-film solar panels, to set up a plant in France dedicated to EDF EN, providing us with a competitive sourcing channel for our solar projects in France.”

Operational Performance

At 30 June 2009, the Group’s installed capacity all segments combined came to 2,547.4 MW gross, up 272.1 MW compared with 31 December 2008.

Net installed capacity stood at 1,743.6 MW, up 179.2 MW compared with 31 December 2008.

Capacity installed and under construction at 30 June 2009 totalled 3,560.5 MW (2,425 MW net), representing an increase of 365.3 MW gross
(272.9 MW net) compared with 31 December 2008.

Wind energy
During the first six months of the year, EDF Energies Nouvelles’ wind energy capacity increased by 271 MW gross and by 177 MW net. The plants commissioned include the Fiennes (11.5 MW) and Sauveterre (12 MW) wind farms in France, the Minervino (32 MW) facility in Italy, the final tranche of the Arada (20 MW) wind farm in Portugal, the Viotia 2 (20 MW) wind farm in Greece, the first tranche of the C-Power (30 MW) wind farm in Belgium and the Shiloh 2 (150 MW) wind farm in the United States.

In addition, the Group had 890 MW in gross (590 MW net) capacity under construction at 30 June 2009.

Solar
During the first half of 2009, EDF Energies Nouvelles commissioned 6.8 MWp in gross (6.1 MWp net) solar photovoltaic capacity, primarily in Italy and the United States. At the same time, construction of 93 MWp in new solar capacity was launched principally in France, Spain and Canada. At 30 June 2009, the Group had a total of 144 MWp in gross solar capacity in service or under construction, compared with 50 MWp gross at year-end 2008. The dynamism of the solar segment has already enabled EDF Energies Nouvelles to achieve its objective of 100 MWp to 150 MWp in service or under construction, which was originally set for 31 December 2009.

Outlook
EDF Energies Nouvelles confirms its 2009 EBITDA target of between €280 million and €300 million, as well as its year-end 2012 installed capacity target of 4,000 MW in net capacity, including 500 MWp in solar capacity.

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